For Topmonumenten Brabant (Grote Kerk, Breda | Sint-Janskathedraal, Den Bosch | Markiezenhof, Bergen-op-Zoom | Kasteel Heeswijk, Heeswijk-Dinther) I developed an interactive digital lesson plan for high school students, using Cardboard VR viewers to make the challenge more immersive. The students are asked to choose a quest (one of the monuments) and answer questions about different traditional crafts to gain access to the next scene – eventually leading them to the most impressive space of each landmark, which awards them a ticket to visit the monument in real life. The VR experience makes the educational element more playful, and because they have to look around for clues they’ll get a better sense of the high levels of detail incorporated in these buildings. Hopefully they’ll get excited enough to visit, so they can look around with more freedom of movement – and engage all their senses in exploring our heritage. ...

“Imagine losing access to the internet, power, email and phone service all at once. With the rapid pace of natural disasters globally, lines of communication too often fail and it’s hard to find solid ground, both in terms of physical shelter and emotional well-being. New wireless solutions will help reconnect, gather and share crucial information community-wide when infrastructure fails. With a global team of experts, that’s exactly what we’re building.” That’s how we won the 2nd prize at the Mozilla WINS Challenge – Wireless Innovations for the Networked Society. Of course I only played a small part in designing the enclosure, but this project has gotten really close to my heart: open source innovation with lifesaving impact. Which does now have the funds to build their next generation device: with custom pcb and e-ink screen....

The OneWorldCitizens foundation promotes social entrepreneurship among youths globally, and connected me to an ambitious young entrepreneur in Barathpur, Nepal called Pradeep Sapkota. Together we’re aiming to transform his current IT center into a technology hub, where he can inspire his community to engage in high-tech projects and agriculture innovation – keeping educated peers from going abroad. We settled on drone technology to get things started, since precision farming is a relatively low-cost, high return approach for agriculture innovation. For the pilot test we acquired a DJI Phantom 4, an easy to use, high quality camera drone. In cooperation with TGD (TU/e’s student association for Technology for Global Development) we organized a Hackathon that focused on getting the most our of this pilot, divided in 4 challenges: data analysis, business models, hardware upgrades and community intergration. All four groups discovered great additional value, but the feasibility prize went to ‘hardware upgrades’ and a team of students who just started the brand new learning line ‘Responsible Innovation in a Global Context’ took on the challenge to build an open source NDVI sensor, which can measure crop health, and can offer the farmers almost instant feedback on their lands’ primary needs – and thus reduce manual labor, one of the biggest issues for this sector in Nepal. I coached the students in their research and development, and since their final presentation they’ve transformed into a social enterprise – adding the software element and preparing the drone for deployment in the field....

In collaboration with Additive Center and Marketiger a quick and lean development process lead to a pleasant surprise for prime minister Mark Rutte, when he received an ‘unbreakable’, 3D printed vase from his representatives in Brabant as a response to his analogy of The Netherlands being fragile like a (traditional) vase. We explored 3 directions: color, carbon fiber and metal. The decision was made to go for color, since it showed most clearly that Brabant is rising high in making The Netherlands unbreakable. Printed in a water-proof, ABS-like material (remember stepping on LEGO’s? That’s how strong it is)....

My freelance contract with GameSolutionsLab allows me to work on multiple social innovation projects, from a role as rapid prototyper to applied researcher and beyond. In a 5 month process with the DELA IT innovation team we developed 10 different AI demos and mock-ups for the funeral of the future, with the final presentation in the form of an art-like exposition: For another DELA project I helped develop and test serious games to connect grandparents and grandchildren in a two-day pressure cooker: ﻿ In a project with Vitalis I developed an interactive VR tour for their upcoming open day, and hope to have inspired them to start exploring what their VR headset has to offer on a daily basis with their clients:...

The European Supply Chain Forum enables professionals in and around supply chains to create, exchange and integrate knowledge by collectively exploring the future. Fresh Forces supported the development of their new corporate identity, and I joined in to translate the visual elements into a tangible representation. The logo is extended by mirror shapes, representing the three different communities. When connected, the logo becomes a fidget toy – anchoring the core values and community levels on a daily basis. The pieces can also be connected into different shapes – like a (supply) chain – to share their narrative with...

This year I’ve kept working with Cubiss on a regular basis – on different types of projects; The further development of the playful impact tool ‘Talas‘: Together with the team behind DURF! – an inspiring online magazine and offline platform for innovation in the library sector – I helped develop a new pay-off to explain their corporate identity: DURF: verzamel(t) de moed. “DARE: collect(ed) courage”. Leading a creative session with library leaders about strategic innovation proposals for 2019, applying the Lego Serious Play...

Together with EKB Someren and TSG Group Eindhoven I developed custom robot hands, product docks and corresponding choreography for a trade fair about precision machining. These 3D printed parts allowed the robot to supply a new keychain to the audience every time one was taken. In between those times it would use the same grippers to open a bottle of beer, grab it, and have a toast with the machine...

The Lantern is a keychain-sized device that serves as a pop-up communication hub for disaster recovery – over an offline, wireless network. With tools to find supplies, ask for help and volunteer, the Lantern will keep communities organized in pivotal moments of need. I’ve been hired to develop a 3D printed casing that can be shared publicly and produced locally, with more components being added over time as the hardware side of it all is taking shape. It’s amazing to experience great collaboration with people across the Atlantic by means of digital fabrication tools – especially when the product is so inspiring....